Guinness World Records (GWR) has resumed accepting record submissions from Israel and the Palestinian Territories following warnings that its policy risked revocation of its registered trademarks and was discriminatory.

GWR has now confirmed in correspondence with UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI), that it recommenced the “routine acceptance” of applications on 15 January 2026, ending a temporary pause that had been in place since November 2023.

The exclusionary policy emerged when GWR refused to accept a submission from Israeli NGO, Matnat Chaim, which planned to bring together 2000 Israeli altruistic kidney donors, hoping that this would be recognised as a world record.

The suspension meant GWR was “not generally processing” record applications where Israel or the Palestinian Territories were listed as the attempt location, unless attempts were conducted in cooperation with a UN humanitarian aid relief agency.

The policy prompted a complaint that the exclusion unlawfully discriminated against Israelis and Palestinians in breach of the UK Equality Act 2010. GWR rejected that claim in its initial responses, stating that the pause was based on location rather than nationality or ethnicity, and therefore did not engage a protected characteristic under UK law.

The dispute escalated later in December when UKLFI wrote to GWR, pointing out that continuing to market publications under the title Guinness World Records, while omitting world records set in Israel or the Palestinian Territories, was misleading.

UKLFI warned that this could jeopardise the validity of GWR’s valuable registered trademarks for “Guinness World Records”, noting that registered trademarks may be revoked if their use becomes misleading to the public. UKLFI also stated that it could constitute an unfair commercial practice in breach of consumer protection law and reiterated that the policy amounted to indirect discrimination contrary to the UK Equality Act.

In its January response, GWR maintained that the suspension had been lawful and temporary, but confirmed that applications from Israel and the Palestinian Territories were once again being accepted. The company stressed that the decision to resume processing was not an admission that the earlier pause had been discriminatory or that its trademarks had been improperly used.

GWR also disclosed that, despite the suspension policy, it had in fact recognised several records set in Israel since November 2023. These included records for

• fastest robot to solve a rotating puzzle clock
• most backward somersault burpees in 30 seconds (male)
• oldest person to perform a headstand (female)
• most sequences completed in a game of Simon and
• tallest drag performer.

Jonathan Turner, UKLFI Chief Executive commented: “We welcome Guinness World Records’ decision to resume accepting submissions from Israel and the Palestinian territories, and we hope that they will now recognise the wonderful work of Matnat Chaim. Excluding particular countries carries serious legal and commercial risks – including, in this case, jeopardising valuable intellectual property. Global organisations cannot present themselves as neutral and inclusive while applying exceptional policies to certain countries, particularly where this misleads consumers and disadvantages entire populations.”

We are grateful to Adrian Magnus for his work on with this matter.